The Colonel

You may wonder what I will miss whenever the time comes for me to leave Thailand.
While there are many things I could name right now, I'm putting KFC on the list. Yep. Ironic? Nope.
They have an extra special spicy recipe here that I'm in love with.
I can rant later about the other things I'll miss but what I'm not putting on the list...the heat. It's friggin' HOT here. When all the locals are complaining about the heat, you know you're not just being a giant whiner baby. 102 today.

A few highlights from April

I've been up to no good, and some good. So, basically, I've just been up. Recently I went to Don Wai floating market and took a boat tour. It was really interesting seeing all the traditional Thai houses on support beams in the water. And they had gardens in the water. Very pretty.
I went with a friend, her child, and her parents. Her parents were both very nice and went out of their way to include me, even though they both spoke very little English. They bought me a plate from our boat trip.
I'm the pale one. ;)

Something I've discovered -I love Fried bananas. So very good. Here, I'll share.

Clearly they looked and smelled so good that the twins wanted some too, naturally. 

And since I'm posting food pictures, here are some Cheesecake Stuffed Strawberries. 

I've been invited to dinner at a nice Thai buffet on Thursday, so maybe I'll have some picture worthy eats for you to look at. But I have to admit this...

I always want to take pictures of the food but when it comes it looks and smells so appealing that usually I've taken several bites before I can remember to take a picture. 

Also, there is an abundance of Mango here. Which I love because mangoes rock. 

Visual stimulation

Nothing to say really. I just wanted to put some pictures of the kids up.
Live long and prosper and all that.

March Update

What have you missed?
I'm all healed up and back into the swing of things. The weather has heated up some. A nice 98 degrees today and tomorrow and the next day. You get the picture.
Speaking of pictures...here is Nadia and me at Siam Ocean World. Its claim to fame is that it's the largest aquarium in southeast Asia.

We had a good time and Nadia's English is improving. She is forming full sentences. All afternoon it was, "Look at this fish", and "what's this?"
Which brings me to a point; ain't it just fascinating to watch a kid discover something for the first time? To see the lightbulb of recognition?

She has quickly found a place in my heart, adorable little girl that she is. I do miss me some Gracie, though. (my niece back in the States). Because of the time/day difference, I can't talk to her as much as I'd like.

I went to Immigration today to extend my passport stamp. I must say that my employers really do right by me. They took such wonderful care of me when I was sick. And when I've had to do things like go to immigration, they send an employee from their offices to help facilitate the whole process.
Frankly, I feel spoiled. And I am NOT complaining about it. Especially the part where there is a driver and I don't have to drive in Bangkok. 'Cause, Wow, yeah, traffic here is Not at all like home. I have found myself getting used to riding on the left side of the road.

Postscript
I won an iPod Touch and now am completely addicted to the tiny little time-sucking gadget. Even now, I'm posting this by way of the blogger app I just downloaded for free in the iTunes store.
I really like Apple.
And thanks to the fine people that create and manufacture apple products I'll be posting a lot more pictures.

Just a Note on Typhus

It sucks! It’s horrible and rotten and I wouldn’t wish it on my worst enemy-ok, maybe my worst enemy.

     Yes people, I somehow or another managed to come to Thailand and within three months contract Scrub Typhus. If you are interested, you can read more about it on its wiki page. Basically, for nine days I had the worst fever I’ve ever experienced, accompanied by muscle and joint pain/spasms. There was also a not-so-fun headache and gastrointestinal issues to deal with. I could not seem to get comfortable, no matter what I did. The fever alone was enough to knock me horizontal; then factor in that I had the other symptoms to contend with.

     Very long story shortened, I spent a night in the hospital after two visits within the same week. It was a private hospital so it was very nice and they took good care of me. Most everyone spoke some English so it wasn’t at all awkward or weird, that could have been apathy from the typhus though…

     They took good care of me, except for correctly diagnosing me. They told me it was just a viral infection that needed to run its course. Ha! Infection indeed! Bah!

     My employers were wise enough to know to take me out and have me see a friend of theirs who specializes in internal medicine. He runs his own private hospice and after thoroughly looking over my tests and paperwork from the hospital he talked with me for about ten minutes. Voila, the diagnosis of Scrub Typhus was, well, diagnosed. Now all I have to do is take two pills a day for a seven-day regimen and I will be better. My fever broke after the first two days on this drug so I think this Doc was right on.

     But I mean really, c’mon, Scrub Typhus? I’ve got some weird luck.  

Critique My Blog

I am taking part in Teralyn's Critique My Blog Blogfest. Details Here.Basically anyone who would like can give me some feed back about this blog. Even if you're only slightly inclined or would only like to comment on one or two things, please feel free to do so. I'm really looking forward to improving my blog and seeing what is working and what's not.
You can either leave a comment. Any, and I mean ANY comments are welcome.
Some of the things you can discuss are:

Appearance: Does it appeal to you? Is it too busy, or too plain?
Layout: Is it difficult to navigate? Is it cluttered, or sparse?
Frequency: Does the blogger post too often? Not often enough?
Content: Are the posts interesting? Unique? Are they focused, or all over the place?
Quality: Are the individual posts too long, too short, too sloppy, or too generic?

Thanks so much for participating! I'm excited to see what everyone thinks.

Food and Babies

Last night I ate This...

Don't ask me how to spell it, 'cause I really can't. It sounded like baa jaa. It is a Chinese dish; wrapped in a banana leaf is rice, prawns, ginko biloba, dried fruit, peanuts, mushroom, and pepper chicken. It was Very good. I will definitely be having this again. 

It's been pretty monotonous lately. Wake up, shower, work and eat a few times in between. I've always been an avid reader, so I have read a few books since my last post. 

One thing I wanted to point out about Thai culture is that whenever you go into a store/shop/business there are always plenty of employees to help you. Generally, in the States if it can be done by two people than one person does it (so the 'man' can save on labor costs) but I suppose that since the cost of living is so affordable here employers choose to pay attention to customer service. When walking in the bank there is someone to greet you, find out why you are there and facilitate a quick visit. At the mall, small kiosks that normally are run by one person in America have at least three people working. I really like this aspect. It is quite common to see several people standing around because there is not enough work for them all. 

How many jobs have you had where you were doing the work of two or more people? Not fun, right?

I want to post a few pictures of the kids so you can share in the cuteness.

Nadia

The Twins. On the left is Nadine and on the right is Nathan.

Thursday I've got plans to go to Chinatown with my boss so I think that will be post worthy. Also, tomorrow I will be posting a request for reviews of my blog so I'll know what you do and don't like and how I can improve-just a heads up.